


Farewell to the Lonely Mountains

by Anonymous



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Roman AU, Gen, Leaving Home, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Roman AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:22:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26036356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The Roman city of Palmyra faces annihilation after their uprising and citizens flee the city. Fili and Kili say goodbye to their home.
Relationships: Fíli & Kíli (Tolkien)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: GatheringFiKi - Secret Admirers 2020





	Farewell to the Lonely Mountains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Linane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linane/gifts).



**The Former Palmyrene Empire  
**

**Present Roman Province of Syria**

**Third Year of Aurelian’s Rule**

“Hurry up, Kili!” Thorin snaps irritably.

Fili looks up from where he is tightening a rope securing their goods to the bed of the wagon to see Kili lingering in the doorway, his attention focused on the inside of the house. Dust from the streets has settled into his hair. That same dirt gives everything an unkempt, uncared for look while filling the eyes and noses of Palmyrenes who flee the Roman cudgel, punishment for Zenobia and her independent empire and Antiochus' ill-considered bid for the title of Augustus; the two people who had ruined the lives of thousands of families.

“Kili!”

Kili’s head snaps around at that, but then drifts back to the house.

Fili gives the rope a tug to test his knot before joining his brother. “It’s just a house, Kee. We’ll have another,” he says and gives Kili’s shoulder a squeeze. Fili fully expects Kili to shrugs his hand away, but he does not.

“Will we, Fili?” Kili asks quietly. “This was the last place where we spent time with her.”

A furrow appears between Fili’s eyebrows when he looks through the door and sees what Kili is seeing. Instead of the cold marble columns in the atrium with the ornate mosaic floor with detritus and unimportant belongings kicked to the corners Kili is seeing their mother lounging on a couch covered in rich gold cloth and laughing at another of his antics. He is seeing the years spent in this house. Fili remembers the feast that his father held when Kili was born. But, more recently, he remembers the lamentations for his mother and all those who came to visit while she lay in state in the atrium. 

“I know. But she is coming with us.” Fili thinks of the blue urn that he had carefully placed among their clothes in the wagon.

Kili shakes his head. “It’s not the same.”

“Boys!” Thorin’s voice has a sharp, urgent edge to it this time.

Fili turns and he can now see the black billowing smoke from the direction of the Temple of Bel. He can hear screaming. The acrid smell is filling the city, smothering the sound of the other Palmyrenes fleeing the city while their monuments are looted and taken to Rome. 

“We’ll talk about her and we’ll keep her memory with us.” Fili touches the snake ring on his little finger; it was one that his mother had worn all the time.

Kili takes a deep breath and nods. He adjusts his dark green chlamys. Dust rises from it and surrounds them for a moment; the motes sparkle in the sun. The gem of his golden fibula flashes in the morning light.

Fili squeezes Kili’s shoulder one more timeand turns away from the house he grew up in, and the only home that he had known.

Fili climbs onto the bench next to Thorin while Kili settles himself into the back of the wagon and they join the long line of wagons and carts that are leaving the city.

Just outside the city there is a roadblock and Roman soldiers are questioning those leaving the city.

“Name,” a bored officer demands.

“Durinbar.” Thorin says tightly.

Another soldier dutifully writes it down while another consults a list.

“Occupation?”

“Merchants.”

The soldier moves around to the the bed of the wagon and peers at the flotsam of their lives.

“Of?”

“Textiles from the Persian Empire.”

“Are you heading east then?”

“No. West. To Byzantium or Rome.”

The soldier’s eyes wander over Thorin’s greying hair and Fili and Kili’s youthful faces. He is still bored and his posture is relaxed, but his gaze is sharp and Kili bristles under it. He is about to speak, snapping that they are not rebels and doesn’t the soldier have anything better to do when Fili’s hand finds his shoulder and grounds him, quietening his rebelliousness.

The soldier with the list nods sharply and the soldier inspecting the wagon steps away and makes a rolling gesture with his hand, “Move along.”

Once they are further from the city tension drops away from them. And light conversation starts up. It is an effort to distract all of them from what is happening.

“Do you remember what you used to say about these mountains when you were small?” Thorin asks.

Kili shakes his head. Thorin does not see, but he was already continuing. “You used to say that they were lonely, and you thought that they needed friends.”

“I remember that!” Fili laughs. “And you ran away that one time with some bread to make friends with them.”

Kili grumbles a little and slouches in the wagon bed.

“We spent a whole afternoon looking for you only to find you on the roof of Dwalin’s shop,” Thorin smiles.

“Well they won’t be lonely now with all of us traveling through them,” Kili replies.

Fili's hand finds Kili's shoulder again. "We've always wanted to go on an adventure. Those lonely mountains will be our first stop."

Kili nods and looks ahead to the mountains, Byzantium, Rome, and does not look back at the burning of Palmyra.

**Author's Note:**

> Examples of Palmyrene jewelry can be found [here.](https://lateantiquesyria.wordpress.com/adornment-and-identity-in-palmyra/)


End file.
